PACE doubts convicts guilt in terrorist attacks

January 30, 2012, 17:06 UTC+3There are serious doubts of whether Dmitry Konovalov and Vladislav Kovalyov are guilty of committing the terrorist act in Minsk subway in April 2011

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STRASBOURG, January 30 (Itar-Tass) — There are serious doubts of whether Dmitry Konovalov and Vladislav Kovalyov are guilty of committing the terrorist act in the subway of Minsk in April 2011, said Jean-Claude Mignon, newly-elected chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Mignon has sent a letter to the Belarusian authorities to ask them to keep them going. The PACE chairman said the Assembly came against the death penalty under any circumstances.

At the same time, the European parliamentarian said he had serious doubts that Konovalov and Kovalyov were guilty of committing the terrorist act in the Minsk subway. “It is evident that Konovalov and Kovalyov had confessed to the crime after they were tortured,” the French deputy stressed.

In his view, the case has no serious proof. Thus, “the death penalty will be a glaring violation of the principles of justice and human rights”, he said.

The Belarusian Supreme Court sentenced Konovalov and Kovalyov sentenced to the death penalty. According to the Belarusian competent agencies, Konovalov and Kovalyov committed the terrorist act in the Minsk subway in April 2011 that killed 15 people and injured over 300 people.